What are the qualities should a medical assistant possess in order to excel in the profession?

A Medical Office Assistant (MOA) has an important role within a medical office. These professionals work to keep operations within an office running smoothly by performing a variety of duties, including managing patient information, handling appointment scheduling, maintaining records, bookkeeping, obtaining medical histories, and more. Graduates of medical office assistant programs are qualified to work in a number of different environments including physicians’ offices and clinics, hospital admitting departments, lab clinics, occupational therapy centers, and many other healthcare offices. 

If you’re considering a career as a medical office assistant, below you’ll discover some of the qualities that will enable you to succeed in this profession. The moment when you focus on building these five qualities, you’ll be prepared to ensure that any type of medical office operates effectively.

1. A Medical Office Assistant Should Possess Excellent Communication Skills

Communication skills are a vital quality of any great medical office assistant. Medical office assistants not only speak to clients over the phone and via email in order to schedule appointments, but they’re often responsible for general office correspondence, including connecting with insurance companies, suppliers, and other relevant parties. Additionally, these professionals are typically the first point of contact for patients when they enter the office, and they may need to ask patients questions to obtain their medical history and other important information. 

As so much of a medical office assistant’s job involves speaking to patients and passing on important information to other office members, it’s important that they possess excellent communication skills. If you’re skilled at correspondence and can interact with patients with a positive and helpful attitude, a career as a medical office assistant could be right for you.

2. Medical Office Assistants Are Highly Organized

Medical office assistants are responsible for a large amount of information. They must be able to record notes and maintain records of patient’s health histories, keep track of confidential paperwork, schedule appointments, and manage the inventory of the medical office they work in. Medical office assistants are also responsible for handling billing, processing insurance claims, and accommodating co-pays. As these professionals must be able to juggle many different important duties with accuracy and attentiveness, medical office assistants benefit from having strong organizational skills. 

A successful medical office assistant has strong organizational capabilities

3. It’s Important to Be Tech-Savvy

Much of the work that medical office assistants do involves inputting and accessing information via computer programs. These professionals use software applications in order to store files, perform general bookkeeping tasks, correspond with patients, suppliers and insurance companies, and more. This makes it important for MOAs to have some key technology skills for navigating the various applications used in the management of a medical office. Those seeking a career in this field can enroll in medical office assistant courses in order to gain fluency in computer applications and software commonly used by MOAs.

4. MOAs Work Well Under Pressure

As one might have guessed from the above qualities, medical office assistants handle a variety of responsibilities and tasks on a daily basis. Given the many different clinical and administrative duties they perform, MOAs must be able to work well under pressure. The job of a medical office assistant can be stressful at times, as these professionals are responsible for handling important documents and medical information. In order to excel in their role, medical office assistants must be able to keep calm in stressful situations and overcome moments of pressure with logic and strength.

5. Honesty and Integrity are Important in this Role

MOAs work in healthcare, where they must handle confidential paperwork regarding the status of a patient’s health and obtain information from patients regarding their medical history. Given the personal nature of the information that medical office assistants work with, it’s important that these professionals act with honesty and integrity in everything they do. Medical assistants will consistently encounter situations in which their character is put to the test, and a successful medical office assistant will always prioritize their principles of integrity and honesty. 

If you’re a motivated, caring, organized and responsible individual, a career as a medical office assistant could be right for you. Does the idea of getting a medical office assistant diploma sound right for you?

Make your dream a reality with a medical office assistant program at AOLCC.